The Opening Ceremony of the III World Cup 2009 took place in the House of Culture "Oktyabr" on 20 November in Khanty Mansiysk.The governor of Khanty Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Alexander Filipenko and the Vice Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Zhukov warmly welcomed the participants of the World Cup 2009. Alexander Zhukov called Khanty Mansiysk one of the chess capitals in Russia.New beautiful chess palaces will be constructed by the start of the Chess Olympiad in 2010, - said the Vice Prime Minister. - In particular, the construction of one of the best chess palace of Russia, to my mind, will be finished.

In his speech, Alexander Zhukov also expressed his hope that chess fans would learn new chess names during this tournament.In any case, I am sure that this year World Cup and the coming World Chess Olympiad in 2010 will do a lot to develop chess in Yugra. This also will positively influence the chess development in Russia and all over the world in general.Both speakers wished to all the participants of the World Cup good luck, fair and uncompromised games. Alexander Filipenko declared the Wolrd Cup opened.

The Chief Arbiter of the Cup Ashot Vardapetian held the drawing of colors. The top seeded GM Boris Gelfand was requested to choose one of the two boxes. Grandmaster chose the box with white king which means that all the participants with odd number will start the first round with white.